Rewards for exploration

Hello, first let me apologize for my English, it is my not my first language.
Now, with the inclusion of a fast travel system into the game, many people (including myself) have worried about a the world shrinking, or feeling smaller because we can move around rapidly. I played rift this week because of Steam Sale (€10 for game plus month subscription; about 14USD) One thing I really liked about rift was that the game rewarded me for exploring. I could run right past everything, but if I looked around, I would find little bonuses. In one area, I was in at the base of a a narrow mountain, (Similar to one of the hills in Thousand Needle) and there were rocks to jump from one area to the next, like a platforming game. At the top, there was a chest that gave a small experience bonus, some money, and a couple of items. I really liked this and thought it adds a ton of depth to the game, and gave me reason to actually explore. I think this could be done somewhat easily in Guild Wars 2. What do you guys think?

Last edited by Majik8ball; 2011-12-22 at 05:36 AM.
Reason: Edited for English mistakes

i take it that u meant the waypoint system. i would prefer to have it. u would already have to travel to the waypoint once to activate it so everyone would need to explore the world once to get all the waypoints.
in an mmo without waypoints(or flight points), i think most players will gravitate to somewhere in the middle of the world as a staging point becos it is the most convenient place to be. the outskirts of the world would be less travelled to.

also, is there a hearthstone? something that would let u teleport away if you are stuck somewhere.

As far as a quick travel system is concerned along with exploration ANet has stated that they will reward people who don't use the system and explore. Honestly outside of maybe quick traveling to somewhere to vendor, or to craft, go to a city, or somewhere for a personal story you're going to be out exploring the world because that's how you find content. There's nearly zero "go to this specific place" type content in the game, you'll happen upon content as you go through the world and because of this I find it pointless to use the waypoint system for reasons I listed above as well as maybe meeting up with a friend or going to a dungeon. Otherwise explore the world and be glad that a developer is making this a big part of the game unlike anyone in the past decade.

There's nearly zero "go to this specific place" type content in the game

Personal story will point you to specific places in the world.
When you get there you will get a pop up dialog asking if you want to continue your Personal Story which upon clicking yes will load you into a small instanced version of where you are.

Personal story will point you to specific places in the world.
When you get there you will get a pop up dialog asking if you want to continue your Personal Story which upon clicking yes will load you into a small instanced version of where you are.

There are some zonewide dynamic events that can only be triggered in areas off the beaten path (i.e. area's that you have to explore to find). From what I've seen/heard, the portals will be more like FP's from WoW/other games (at least in classic, when there weren't 5 per zone) and there will be plenty of hidden events, vendors, quests ect. to find simply by running around.

That and there's always the reward of finding cool places while exploring

-I want to squeeze my character's arse into every nook'n'cranny in the game!
-I want to climb to places I shouldn't be and probably fall to my death for the sake of exploring!
-I hope we can do the same in the WvWvW maps maybe!

I have a mixed opinion on this topic. You should get rewards for exploration, but you should not get the feeling that those are too good to pass up.

And then there's always the problem to allow fast travel or not:
If you do allow fast travel, people will be less likely to meet other players and the world feels empty.
If you do not allow fast travel, it will be ineffective for people to travel (kind of obvious) and traveling gets boring, especially if you've already seen everything on another toon.

WoW's approach is kind of a mix of both. You may port around to get somehow close to where you want to go and the rest of the path you use flight masters. (They work like a waypoint system, but you have to "enjoy" the whole flight, which can be quite long).

I'm not sure, what I'd like better, but I'm always open for new approaches.

That you can fast travel, doesn't mean you must fast travel. You can still explore the world, you will even be rewarded for that.
But not everyone wants to run all the time. So, why not allow other people to fast travel?
I will probably explore a lot of the world, especially with rewards and you still need to unlock the waypoints, but if there is a event somewhere which I want to join then I prefer to be able to fast travel to it. Not walk 10 minutes to see the event ending when I get there.

It's possible that fast travel won't be a problem for me. I just hope that I will run into people everywhere when I am exploring.

Since players will be converging on and dispersing from "random" Dynamic events instead of 3-5 quest hubs, it shouldn't be an issue. Main roads will be traveled by many, hidden corners will mostly feel secluded.